Jacqueline Franklin. Source: Supplied.
Source: Supplied
A WOMAN was strangled with a belt and buried in a shallow Yorke Peninsula grave by the man from whom she bought drugs, a court has heard.
Darren Collins, 36, of Port Augusta, is standing trial in the Supreme Court over the alleged murder of Jacqueline Franklin in October 2013.
Although Collins pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, prosecutor Tim Preston told jurors that admission was not satisfactory in light of the evidence.
“He has admitted that he killed Ms Franklin, that the acts which caused her death were violent, that they were unlawful, that they were dangerous,” he said.
“We say that, by his plea, he has admitted all the elements of murder other than having had the intent to kill Ms Franklin or cause her grievous bodily harm.
“The issue in this trial will be whether, at the time he killed Ms Franklin, the accused had the intention to kill her.”
Mr Preston said both Collins and Ms Franklin were methylamphetamine users when they met at Woodville Gardens on October 13, 2013.
He said Ms Franklin purchased a quantity of the drug from Collins, and that they spent the next few days together.
Mr Preston said Ms Franklin was last seen alive at Woodville Gardens by an acquaintance on October 16.
He said Collins was arrested, the next day at Arthurton, 81km north of Stansbury, while in possession of a spade and a garden fork.
“Some two months later, police found Ms Franklin’s body in a shallow grave in the back yard of a house at Stansbury,” he said.
“She had died shortly after she was last seen alive … she had two fractures to her jaw, a fracture to her voice box, lacerations inside her cheek and chipped teeth.”
Mr Preston said forensic examination had determined the cause of death to be ligature strangulation.
“The prosecution says that was caused by the belt found wrapped around her neck when she was exhumed,” he said.
Greg Mead, SC, for Collins, said his client admitted strangling Ms Franklin but would say it occurred during a consensual act of erotic asphyxiation.
The trial, before Justice Ann Vanstone and a jury of six men and six women, continues.
SA court told Jacqueline Franklin was murdered, buried in shallow grave, by drug dealer
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